


The Lakewood 5: Endings Are Final

by Hunters_Grace



Category: Scream (TV)
Genre: Aftermath, F/F, Post-Season/Series 02, Serial Killers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-05-21 04:04:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14907980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hunters_Grace/pseuds/Hunters_Grace
Summary: The Lakewood 5 were finally returning to normality after everything that had happened. So much had happened in the last month - Keiran’s death, the Halloween incident, 4 of the group having therapy, returning to school, Gina and Audrey breaking up, Stavo and Brooke still going strong, oh yeah… and Emma finally got up the guts to talk to her best friend about the barn confession that had felt like a lifetime ago, and her best friend is now her girlfriend of almost a month...Unfortunately not everything had improved since the Halloween incident...





	1. The Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> First attempt at a Scream fic (I'm a little late to the party but I love this show so much)...  
> Post-Season 2
> 
> 'If you think this has a happy ending. You haven't been paying attention.'
> 
> Hope you enjoy it.  
> Like, comment, and let me know what you think.

November 25th - Senior Year

The Lakewood 5 were finally returning to normality after everything that had happened. So much had happened in the last month - Keiran’s death, the Halloween incident, 4 of the group having therapy, returning to school, Gina and Audrey breaking up, Stavo and Brooke still going strong, oh yeah… and Emma finally got up the guts to talk to her best friend about the barn confession that had felt like a lifetime ago, and her best friend is now her girlfriend of almost a month (though the two hadn’t told the others yet, their parents were the only ones who knew - Audrey had told her dad, and Maggie had forgotten to knock at the very wrong time once).

Unfortunately not everything had improved since the Halloween incident.

Audrey had gotten the call whilst she was at Emma’s for movie night, from the doctors in Boston… The chemo had stopped working. Which meant the group had attended one more funeral together, that they didn’t want to attend. Audrey hadn’t come to school for a few days after that, and Emma had spent most nights with her girlfriend to make sure she was alright. Thankfully she was finally starting to come to terms with it, the witty jokes that had been absent for a week or so making a return in full force, and the group were more than relieved that she was still okay after it all. They’d all faced so much death that they didn’t know what would finally push them over an edge they couldn’t return from.

They were all okay now though. Although the downside was that they’d had to return to school, yikes.

Emma had been rummaging through her locker when Brooke, Stavo and Noah came laughing down the hall to join her.

“Hey, where’s Audrey?”

“Bathroom.” Noah had replied simply as he skipped over to his own locker to put his things away.

The four of them had stayed there, talking as they waited for the last of their group to find her way over. Audrey hadn’t arrived in a very Audrey-esque fashion though. The girl had come sprinting around the corner, crashing into the lockers on one side as she ran towards them. Emma just about managing to grab her and keep her steady.

“Hey, what’s wrong? What is it?” The shorter girl’s eyes were filled with panic as she stuttered over her words and pointed behind her somewhere. 

Emma shook her head in confusion until one of the boys in their year had stumbled round the corner laughing, clutching a Brandon James mask in his hand.

“You should’ve seen your face!” He exclaimed in the middle of fits of laughter.

Laughter that died down very quickly when Stavo had clenched his jaw and marched over to the guy, slamming his back against the lockers loud enough to draw the attention of most of the school.

“You think that’s funny?! She has PTSD you asshole. The next time you try something like that, you might find yourself too broken to try again.” His voice snarled with anger and Emma tried to suppress a smile that threatened to break out at the shear terror on the other boy’s face, as she clung to Audrey in an attempt to comfort the girl.

“You okay?” Emma muttered softly into her hair as she nodded her thanks to Stavo as he returned to the group. Audrey nodded slightly against her shoulder, she wasn’t okay, but the blonde knew the perfect solution to that problem once school was over.

True to her word Emma had known the perfect solution later that night, including a marathon of shitty movies and an excessively large bowl of Magic Mix. The blonde was grinning, despite the film being a horror, as she curled into her girlfriend’s side - the other girl laughing every time she jumped at one of the scary parts. The biggest jump of the night however, had been Audrey’s fault… Just as the music was building up for something scary to happen, Audrey’s phone had vibrated loudly in her pocket and against Emma’s side - succeeding in sending the blonde flying off the couch.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, sorry! It was just my phone.” Audrey managed to get out between laughs as she fished the thing out of her pocket, not missing the death glare Emma was fixing her with from her place on the floor.

UNKNOWN: Hey Killer. Do you feel safe yet?

JENSEN: Who is this?

UNKNOWN: Because if you think this has a happy ending. You haven’t been paying attention.

Audrey rolled her eyes, shoving the phone back in her pocket as Emma picked herself off the floor to rejoin her on the sofa. The two continued their movie night then and at some point in the night they had managed to stumble upstairs to Emma’s room to get some sleep (along with other things).

Nobody questioned it when they showed up to school the next day, and Audrey was wearing one of Emma’s hoodies that was a little too big on her but still…

The day had been a drag and the Lakewood 5 had briefly been pulled out of psychology by Sheriff Acosta to discuss the ‘prank’ from the day before so he could go and have words with the boy that did it.

He was in their literature class later though and Emma had spent her time trying not to laugh as Audrey and Stavo periodically threw things at the boy when the teacher looked away. The boy-Michael-was less than pleased, but really he’d had it coming so whenever he tried to complain Brooke just fixed him with the Maddox death glare and that shut him up pretty successfully.

The rest of the day had been pretty uneventful and they all left in a fairly cheerful mood.

“You staying with Stavo tonight Brooke?” Emma had asked, nudging into her friend whilst they waited for the boys to make it out to them.

“No, I’m out with my mom tonight. He has a ‘boys night’ with Noah anyways.”

Brooke had been spending a lot more time at home recently, her mom having returned to take care of her daughter when she’d heard about what happened. Together they’d managed to help each other overcome their therapy and it was nice to see Brooke happy and with a family again.

“Awh, date night!” Audrey had exclaimed dramatically when the two boys walked towards them.

“Noah babe I’ll pick you up at 7 yeah?” 

Noah rolled his eyes at Stavo when he grabbed his hand to ask.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll see you at 7 weirdo. A horror movie marathon is on the cards.”

The group split off not long after that, Audrey going home with Emma again because her father was currently out of town and she still found being home alone in the dark a push on her mental health after everything that had happened. The two found Maggie in the kitchen waiting for them when they got to the house, rather ridiculously still in separate cars because Audrey liked driving and she couldn’t guarantee that she wouldn’t end up having to go home to fetch something at some point so she brought her car with her just in case.

“Hey girls. How was school?” Maggie had asked as they walked over to greet the older woman.

“It was good. Audrey and Stavo got some revenge on that Michael guy.” Audrey saluted slightly at the mention of her good work (in her own professional opinion it was good work anyway).

“Good. That kid had it coming after what he did to you. You can’t pull things like that on survivors of all of Lakewood’s recent horrors.”

“It’s alright, they did it to me last time too remember? Unfortunately there wasn’t a blade within reach this time.” Audrey muttered bitterly, earning her a laugh from Maggie as Emma moved to get drinks and snacks as they talked.

Then Audrey’s phone buzzed.

UNKNOWN: Hey Killer. Are you paying attention yet?

JENSEN: Who the fuck are you? You aren’t funny.

UNKNOWN: Are you paying attention?

JENSEN: No. And this number is getting blocked.

UNKNOWN: I wouldn’t do that if I were you - VideoLink

Audrey frowned at her screen as she made to click on the link. The screen then filling with the image of Stavo - bloodied and unconscious in a dark room, something akin to a guillotine blade glistening above his head.

JENSEN: What is this?! You’re twisted you know that?!

UNKNOWN: Tick tock Killer. He hasn’t got long.

JENSEN: Why are you doing this?

UNKNOWN: Because he told the ending wrong.


	2. Tick Tock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new killer isn't messing around when he kidnaps Stavo.  
> That means that Audrey is on a timer to find out where her friend is and to save his life.  
> This really wasn't going to do her PTSD any good...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A killer's party and Jensen the life saver.  
> Just another day in Lakewood.  
> Hope you enjoy it.  
> Like, comment, and let me know what you think.

Oh God… This wasn’t a prank, was it? This was really happening again. Audrey didn’t want to say anything to Emma, she couldn’t drag her back into this sick game, she couldn’t put her in danger again. So Audrey thought hard about what the killer had said ‘he told the ending wrong’.

The book.

Stavo had called Kieran the final killer - clearly that wasn’t true, and this killer was pissed to have been forgotten about… Oh God, what if this is the person that killed Kieran? It would make sense. He was jealous of the fame him and Piper got and stopped his story continuing. 

The killers normally left clues. If he thought he’d told the ending wrong. Noah had the original copy of the book. Audrey pulled out her phone again as she typed out a text to Noah.

BI-FURIOUS: Hey dude, in the original copy of your book, is there anything at the end? Like a note or a picture?

DEFLOWERED: Oh yeah! A picture, here: InsertImage

BI-FURIOUS: Thanks, Stavo just asked me to check it was still there. I think he wanted it for a drawing.

Audrey knew she shouldn’t lie, not after everything that happened last year, but she didn’t want to put anyone else in danger tonight. It wasn’t fair to them. She put her phone away then and looked back up to Emma.

“Hey, I’m gonna go grab some clothes from my house so I don’t have to steal yours in the morning again, and I need to drop something off at Noah’s. Pick the first movie for when   
I get back?”

“Of course. If you’re leaving though I am going to make you sit through a cheesy rom-com.” Audrey groaned as she grimaced at the thought, her girlfriend laughing slightly as she made to kiss away the look of disgust. It worked quite well too. “You best hurry back though.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.”

Audrey left the house as calmly as she could, but broke into a sprint to her car as soon as she was out of the door. She revved the engine as she placed her phone on its holder and looked nervously down at the picture.

It was a dark image, but clearly stood dead centre was a tree with a note knifed to its trunk reading: LEAVE HER ALONE. - the words were written in Maggie’s handwriting. The note was stained with blood though and whoever Maggie had wrote to clearly didn’t agree with her request. The background of the picture was blurred but was still recognisable as the James house that Daisy had used to live next to.

Audrey had drove as quickly as the speed limits would allow her to until she reached the old abandoned house. It took her a few moments to build up the nerve to step out of the car, but she did, heading straight for the trunk to retrieve her flashlight and the crowbar that occupied the space. She clicked the flashlight on and took in a shaky breath, before slamming the trunk shut and walking cautiously towards the house.

The door was jammed but Audrey just shouldered into it and knocked it open, though the almighty crash it made as it hit the wall of the hallway meant that she no longer had the element of surprise. So she moved quickly, not bothering to keep quiet anymore. She searched the house as she went, but everywhere was eerily quiet. The kitchen had thick layers of dust across all the surfaces, the front room was very similar (though there were clear marks on the walls where pictures had recently been taken down, the only indication that anyone was ever really here at all). She kept moving, more cautiously now she knew someone had definitely been here recently to pull those photos down. There was one room left down here, at the back of the house. 

Audrey pushed the door open slowly, the old wooden thing creaking the entire way. She stepped through carefully, trying to be menacing as she brandished a crowbar in her right hand, her left clutching the flashlight like her life depended on it. As she stepped into the room properly she caught sight of Stavo, tied to a wooden chair beneath the guillotine blade she’d seen in the video clip of him.

“Audrey!” Her friend’s eyes shone with relief that turned to fear as she made to step towards him, and she felt her ankle snag on a trip wire.

“Stavo…”

“Don’t move. Please. If you move it’ll drop the blade.”

“If I stay here he’ll come back and kill me to kill you…” She hissed across at him in response.

“What do we do?”

Audrey hesitated, considering her options. She couldn’t let Stavo die. But if she didn’t move they’d both die. Decision: She had to try and move without disturbing the blade… The crowbar.

The girl jammed the curve of the metal between two floorboards so that it was positioned by her ankle. She then slowly took her foot away from the wire and the crowbar took the   
strain of the wire. She pushed out a shaky breath and stepped over the wire to walk towards her friend making to untie the ropes around him. She was just about done when she heard a crack and froze.

“Erm, Audrey… The crowbar’s coming loose.”

The girl looked over at her makeshift break in time to see it pull up part of the floorboards and topple over, releasing the trip wire. Audrey shoved hard against the chair Stavo was on, rolling to the side herself as the blade fell.

It split the legs of the chair into splinters where it collided with them instead of Stavo’s head, and the edge of the blade swung before finishing its decent. The corner of it cutting   
through the muscle on the side of Audrey’s right thigh. The girl cried out in pain before Stavo managed to tug himself loose and clamber round to clamp a hand over Audrey’s mouth.

“He might hear you… Come on, I need you to stand so we can get out of here.” The girl nodded slightly, accepting the hand Stavo had offered her and just about managing to remain stable on her feet. 

She took in a breath, clutching onto Stavo as she tried to blink back the fogginess in her vision that the pain was causing. Finally managing to steady herself and step back from Stavo slightly.

“AUDREY!” 

The shorter girl turned to feel a knife take a chunk out of the left side of her neck, ducking down as the man swung again - he caught Stavo across the cheek and as the sheriff’s son staggered in pain, Audrey managed to push him away from the killer. Grabbing his hand as she ran past and dragging him along behind her. They swerved through the kitchen, trying as best they could to dodge the gleaming, blood soaked knife of their pursuer. 

Audrey was knocked off her feet when another trip wire dug into her ankles at the exit from the kitchen and into the hallway, Stavo just managing to side step an axe that swang towards his face when his friend fell head over heels.

He just managed to pull her back to her feet in time for the new killer to slash the knife he held across Stavo’s back. The two friends managed to drag each other away though, and eventually they fell through the front door.

They stood back to back in the front garden, Stavo keeping ahold of the back of Audrey’s shirt to make sure she was still there as they flicked their gaze between the front door and the sides of the old house. Both of them jumping a mile when Audrey’s phone rang loud and clear against the silence of the dark winter’s night. She fumbled with the device as she pulled it out of her pocket, trying to keep an eye out for the killer as she glanced at her phone screen that read ‘EMMA’ - she answered the phone quickly so she could return her gaze to their lookout duties more than anything else.

“Em, hey, what’s up?”

“Audrey, where are you?! I called Noah and he said you never showed up to see him, and he sent me some creepy picture you’d asked to see. What’s going on?!”

Emma’s voice was panicked on the other end of the phone and Audrey was sure the pained, ragged breaths she was letting out probably weren’t helping to ease the panic.

“Erm, long story - can you just show the picture to your mom and tell her to call Sheriff Acosta?”

“Of course…” The silence was killer as Audrey waited for Emma’s voice to return to her on the other end of the phone. “Okay, why did I just do that? And why is my mom panicking?   
She’s on her way with the cops now… Where are you?!”

“Em, I’m fine okay? I’m alright… I just, me and Stavo might need some help - it’s scary out here in the dark.”

“You don’t call the cops for scary Auds! What. Is. Happening?!” Audrey glanced around nervously and groaned in complaint before deciding to come clean.

“Okay, so Stavo got kidnapped and the guy messaged me all creepy like. So I figured out where he was and came to get him… but like it wasn’t a prank thing, he was really kidnapped and there was a real guillotine, and a real guy with a knife and a mask…”

“Oh my God! Audrey, are you both okay?”

“Yeah, little cut up but we’re fine… Hey, if you’re gonna come down here go get Brooke and probably Noah too - they deserve to know about all this too.”

“Okay, I will. Where are you?”

“Brandon James’ house.”

Emma gulped slightly but was too desperate to check on her girlfriend to not go to her, even if she was at that damned house. In the background Emma could here Stavo though too an ‘I’m sorry, we’re where?!’ echoing through the phone line before she spoke again.

“Okay, I’m on my way. Stay alive for me. I love you.”

“I’ll try. Me too.”

Then the phone line cut out and the two were left stood there in the early darkness of the winter nights. It was only around 6pm, but it was pitch black and in this town the shadows were terrifying.

It took another 5 minutes (the longest of Audrey’s life) until police sirens rang out down the street and the cars pulled up, cops jumping out to storm the house and search for evidence - the two friends just about managing to choke out a warning to look out for traps as they fell into each other’s arms. The action was uncharacteristic for both of them, but in the situation they found that they didn’t care. It let them know they were okay. They were still alive.

“Gus, Audrey, are you okay?” Sheriff Acosta ran over to the two of them who nodded carefully as they were checked over. The older man hugging both of the teenagers as he sighed in relief.

After the summer’s events, the Sheriff had come to expect the worst at all occasions, and having heard it was his son and his friend in trouble he was even more fearful of what he’d find. Luckily this call out hadn’t turned into a homicide investigation.

“Audrey! Stavo!” Maggie came running over to the two teens with medical supplies, wrapping them both briefly in a hug before turning to face Audrey. “That was really stupid, you know? Coming out here alone, you should’ve told somebody!”

“Maggie, I know how this works by now. If we call the cops, somebody dies, and I was trying to save him, not kill him.” Maggie sighed. She understood of course but it still didn’t make the girl’s decision any less stupid.

“She saved my life Maggie… I’m pretty sure I was supposed to die tonight.” The two adults shared a glance as Miguel tried to comfort his son, wrapping a protective arm around Stavo’s shoulders.

“Well I’m glad you’re both alive. But it was still stupid. What would I have told the others if I’d come here to find you both dead? What would I have told Brooke? Emma?”

The two teenagers knew how close they’d been to Maggie having to have those conversations with all of their loved ones, and Audrey was so incredibly glad that Emma wouldn’t have to receive more bad news on top of everything else that had happened over the last year.

“And you’re both going to need to go with the paramedics when they arrive… Those wounds are pretty nasty.”

“Of course.”

Maggie left with Sheriff Acosta then, heading for one of the officers coming out of the building to get a report on their findings.

“Thank you, by the way… for saving my life. I really would’ve died without you tonight, more than once.” Audrey looked over her shoulder at Stavo as he spoke and offered him a sympathetic smile.

“Of course, I wasn’t about to let you die now was I?”

“Awh! She does care!” The taller man replied, wrapping his arms around Audrey to hug her from behind, his chin resting on top of her head.

“Ugh, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, I just don’t want Brooke to kill me for letting you die.” Audrey managed to get out in response as she tried to wriggle herself free.

Luckily Stavo just let her go not long later when Emma’s car skidded to a stop by the house and their friends jumped out and made to run towards them.

“Audrey!” “Stavo!” “Guys!” Came the simultaneous cries of all three of the others.

Brooke launched herself into Stavo’s arms as soon as she was close enough, and Emma all but ran into Audrey - barely able to stop as she wrapped her arms around the shorter girl. Audrey caught a glimpse of Noah 3rd wheeling Brooke and Stavo’s hug and almost laughed at the image, but Emma pulled back to rest her forehead against her girlfriend’s as she scanned her injuries.

“Are you really okay?” Emma muttered softly.

“Yeah Em, it’s starting to hurt a bit now the adrenaline’s wearing off… but I’m okay. Your mom’s making us both go to the hospital though.”

“Good! Have you seen the state of you both?!” She stated more loudly, the group laughing whilst Stavo and Audrey shared a look that read ‘shit-we’ve-been-made’ before they joined in the laughter. The group stayed wrapped up in each other’s presence until the ambulance finally pulled up and they were both taken to hospital to get checked over and patched up, their friends arriving minutes after they did and refusing to leave their sides.


	3. Dawn Of The Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Audrey might've managed to get Stavo out of his nightmare...  
> But could she get out of a few of her own?  
> With her record in this town, it probably wasn't likely...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you thought the killer was going to let the Lakewood 5 have their win...  
> You haven't been paying attention.  
> Hope you enjoy it.  
> Like, comment, and let me know what you think.

The two members of the Lakewood 5 caught up in the attack had been kept in hospital for two days just to make sure they were recovering well, and when they were released they’d elected to skip their Friday in school (their friends joining them for a movie day at the Duval household). It was good fun. They had, however, elected for comedy over horror in light of the recently restarted terror in Lakewood.

They were halfway through a film when Audrey’s phone buzzed, and Emma locked eyes with her from where she sat on the other side of the room. The girl pulled her phone out of her pocket, heart hammering in her chest as she did so.

UNKNOWN: Hey Killer. Enjoy your victory. It will be your last.

JENSEN: No it won’t. If you think this will end in your victory… you haven’t been paying attention.

UNKNOWN: I think you’re forgetting whose game this is killer. I’m in control. 

UNKNOWN: I know everything. All your dirty little secrets.

UNKNOWN: And I’ll share them to the world for you.

UNKNOWN: Enjoy your fame killer - VideoLink

Everyone else’s phones began to buzz then and Audrey hesitantly clicked on the link. Her mouth running dry as the video that flooded the screen showed her and Emma… judging from their clothes (that were mostly on the floor by now), this was them a few nights ago. Oh no… Not again - why did these killers always like to make their private lives go viral?!

Audrey glanced up to meet Emma’s gaze, knowing the dread behind the other girl’s gaze was less because their friends knew, and more because that video had just been sent to the entire population of Lakewood.

“Okay, I would just like to say…” Both girl’s attention was immediately drawn to Brooke as the blonde spoke up next to Stavo. “I knew it, I told you, and you owe me $20.”

The blonde’s statement was accompanied by a point of her finger; first to Emma, then Stavo, and then Noah (who protested about having to give Brooke $20 for their bet).

“Also, when were you gonna tell us?”

“Yeah, come on Audrey, I thought I was your best friend and not a word?” Noah’s eyes shone as he and Brooke teased them about this (something both Emma and Audrey were sure would continue forever).

“We were going to tell you… I just didn’t want to chance it going public yet, after everything that has happened over the last year. I didn’t want to make the target on her back any bigger.” Emma replied honestly and Brooke threw her arms around the taller girl at the confession, before fixing Audrey with a glare and stating.

“You best be good to her.”

“Aye, aye, Captain. I’ll do my very best.” 

Brooke laughed as Audrey offered her a small salute, saluting back at the girl before moving to hug her too. The movie day then continued without the subject having to be brought up and made into a big deal, because it wasn’t, and if the killer thought this would cause some damage he’d have to think again. Both Audrey and Emma had faced this kind of thing before and far worse, it wouldn’t break them, nothing had yet… at least not for long.

The only thing the release of that video would change for now is where the girls were sat. Emma all but immediately moving to curl up against her girlfriend now that she didn’t have to try and hide their relationship. Brooke had laughed when her best friend had moved from her side and cooed over how cute they were for a moment, but they let her do it, there was no harm in it at least.

Eventually Stavo, Brooke and Noah had headed home as it got late that night. Maggie having arrived home halfway into the evening (trying her hardest not to make eye contact with Audrey when she’d greeted them all before retreating upstairs to her room to leave the group in peace - and to avoid having to talk about ‘the video’ the whole town had received).

Audrey and Emma had tidied up downstairs before heading up to bed and changing into pajamas. Just as Audrey was packing away her clothes into her bag her phone buzzed on the dresser, the girl making her way over to check it.

UNKNOWN: If you think this has a happy ending. You haven’t been paying attention.

Audrey rolled her eyes. Ignoring the text as she placed the phone back on the dresser and walked over to collapse on the bed next to Emma, the other girl laughing as she ran a hand through Audrey’s short hair.

“Him again?”

“Mhmm…”

“You’re not gonna run out on me again are you?” Audrey rolled over to look at her girlfriend, shaking her head in response.

“No Em, I’m not that stupid. I’d much rather spend my nights with you. It’s you that might run out, you’ve been stuck with me for days because my dad’s out of town.”

“Mm… I don’t mind that at all…”

Emma rolled herself over to straddle Audrey’s waist as she leant down to press a lingering kiss to the girl’s lips.

“What if he’s around again?”

“Then at least if he murders me I can die happy, with you.”

Audrey broke into a wide grin as she flipped them over so that she lay on top and was able to press kisses to Emma’s lips, along her jawline and down her neck as they headed for another night with minimal sleep (though hopefully this night would remain a private affair).

The two girls had eventually managed to fall asleep after changing back into pajamas (not wanting to give Maggie a fright should she decide to check on them in the morning).   
Emma had woken up around 9am, content to watch the peaceful expression on her girlfriend’s face until she stirred awake herself half an hour or so later. Audrey had blinked the sleep out of her eyes and grumbled a sleepy ‘goodmorning’ to Emma as she’d briefly joined their lips until a wet splodge of something had fallen against her cheek and caused her to flinch away.

“Audrey, is that blood?” Emma had stuttered as the other girl wiped at the spot on her face, catching a glimpse of the words written on the ceiling as she did so.

“Em?” The blonde looked up too. Gasping at the sight of the words written, in what could only be blood, across her ceiling: 

ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION.

Emma’s gaze flicked around the room briefly before it fell onto a box that sat on her dresser.

“Audrey there’s a package…”

The shorter girl turned to see the 20-by-15 cm box sat on the dresser in the room. Audrey pushed herself out of bed to head to take a closer look at the box.

“Is it for me or you?” Emma asked as she made her way around the bed to stand with her.

“Me…” Audrey replied staring at the card on top of the box: HEY KILLER.

Emma clenched her jaw and grabbed the box off the table, taking Audrey’s hand in the one she had spare.

“What are you doing?”

“We’re not opening it alone. Screw his rules.”

Audrey smiled slightly and allowed herself to be dragged downstairs to where Maggie was making up breakfast.

“Hey girls… I-what’s that?”

Emma placed the box down on the dining table and the three of them stood around it.

“He was in the house mom. He left this for Audrey…”

“What is it?” Maggie’s voice held concern as she spoke, but Audrey just shrugged.

“We haven’t opened it yet. Couldn’t do it alone…”

The older woman nodded in understanding and stood next to her daughter as Audrey reached to unwrap the box and cautiously prize it open. She’d half expected an explosion or something else dangerous to spring out at them… it wasn’t dangerous… but it definitely stopped the girls from wanting the breakfast Maggie was making.

The box contained a blood soaked heart… yes, a heart. With a folded note tucked underneath it.

“Could be a pig heart… They sent one to mom the first time around.” Emma offered hoping she was right. Her mom nodded along but looked a little uneasy. Audrey said nothing on the matter. Simply gagging as she attempted to pull the note from underneath it - it took her three tries, but she did pull it free.

ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION? HOW DOES IT FEEL TO LOSE EVERYONE YOU LOVE?

Audrey clenched her jaw in anger as she read the note, flipping it over to read the last word written across the back in blood.

ORPHAN.


	4. Primal Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The killer left a gift with a note, but what does it mean?  
> Remember simply:  
> If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Audrey's nightmares come to light and there's nothing she can do to stop it.  
> Angst warning.  
> Hope you enjoy it.  
> Like, comment, and let me know what you think.

The girl’s hand went slack, her face falling as tears brimmed in her eyes, the note fluttering away from her as she simply whispered…

“No…”

And ran.

She sprinted out of the Duval house, barely registering Emma calling out after her. She hadn’t taken her keys, so she just ran. As fast as her legs would carry her. She had to know.   
He shouldn’t be there, but she had to know…

…

Emma had watched as her girlfriend left, she was a wreck and she didn’t know what had happened… but her mom had already dialed Miguel’s phone number and all Emma could do was wait to see what came of it.

“Miguel, hi. I need you to get over here, it’s important, there was a package an-” Maggie halted mid-sentence as the Sheriff clearly cut her off, and it was killing Emma not knowing what was happening. “There’s been a murder?”

The blonde’s heart sank as she shared a look with her mother who pressed on with one simple question.

“Who?”

…

She’d got there almost 5 minutes later. Her house. Her house with crime scene tape around it. Her house with police cars lining the surrounding area. Her house that they were wheeling a body out of in a black bag… No… He wasn’t supposed to be in town yet.

Audrey sprinted towards the house from where she stood on the other side of the street.

“DAD?!” The strangled sob echoed across the street and just as she reached the police tape, Sheriff Acosta grabbed ahold of her and pulled her into him. 

Normally she’d care, but in that moment she just let her head fall against the cop’s chest and she cried. Her knees shaking until she fell to the floor, the Sheriff sitting with her, holding the girl as violent sobs wracked her body. No, her and her father hadn’t always seen eye-to-eye, but she had always loved him and now she’d lost him too… both of her parents were gone, not even a month apart. She didn’t know how she was supposed to recover from this…

Maggie had arrived on scene not longer later. Herself and Emma jumping out the car and sprinting to fall alongside Audrey, holding her tight whilst everything went on around them without them knowing what it was.

Maggie had gone in the ambulance with the body so she could examine it at work, but Emma had stayed. Holding Audrey as she cried until she was out of tears, and until Sheriff Acosta was finished collecting evidence. The older man had walked over as Emma managed to pull her girlfriend to her feet, Miguel putting an arm around Audrey’s shoulder as he spoke.

“Sweetie, I need you to come with me for now okay?” The shorter girl had nodded her agreement and had been led away with the Sheriff for now. Emma had gone to find the rest of the group after that, to make sure they knew the situation and to make sure one of them didn’t accidentally say the wrong thing because they didn’t know.

“Should we go and see her?” Noah had asked and the others had nodded in agreement, and the other 4 of the Lakewood 5 made their way to the police station to comfort their friend… Or they tried to. The desk Sergeant had stopped them going further than the waiting area, so they’d all had to take a seat in the uncomfortable plastic chairs and do exactly what was implied...they had to wait. Until someone would allow them to see Audrey.

Noah was pacing as they waited, he never was one for patience, especially not when his friends were hurting. The others were equally worried, as they tapped feet against the floor, glanced around impatiently, Stavo even going over to ask the desk Sergeant why they couldn’t go and check on Audrey.

He’d got the same response as before. A sincere apology as she told him to just sit down because she wasn’t to have visitors yet. 

Stavo had returned to his seat in a huff and the others shared his annoyance as they sat waiting again.

They had eventually resorted to people watching, hoping someone would take notice of them or that they’d hear someone giving an update on what was happening, anything.   
Nothing did come of their people watching though, not until Brooke had hit at their arms to pull their attention to a woman that had strode through the doors to the station in that moment. Power suit and high heels seeming like her weapons of choice as she walked towards them and straight around the desk of the station.

The group all jumped up in protest as the woman just walked through and the desk Sergeant stepped in front of the woman to stop her.

“Sorry ma’am, no-one is allowed past without authorisation right now. Please take a seat in the waiting area.”

“Step out of my way officer, I have to be here right now it’s my job.”

“And what job is that?” The woman’s voice held an air of anger as she tried to get this stranger out of the building.

“I’m with child protective services. Now get out of my way, I have a job to do here.” Power suit pushed her way past the officer and headed straight for Sheriff Acosta’s office where   
Audrey was waiting for the man to return from a meeting with Maggie.

The desk Sergeant reached for the phone to dial down to the morgue then.

“Sheriff. Child protective services are here, you might want to get back up here.”

Audrey was sat in the Sheriff’s chair, spinning aimlessly in circles on it as she waited for the man to return, the action helping her to shut her mind off to what had just happened for at least a brief time. That was at least until a woman she didn’t recognise had strode confidently into the room, drawing the girl’s gaze up to her as she stopped in the middle of the room. Audrey cocking an eyebrow at her in question.

“Audrey Jensen?” 

“Who are you?”

“My name is Kate. I’m here with the child protective services. I-”

“What do you want from me?”

Audrey looked up at the woman, nervously chewing her lip when the woman paused before responding. She was interrupted when she made to speak though as Sheriff Acosta burst back into the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

“I’m sorry ma’am but I don’t remember calling for you.” He spat and the woman huffed in annoyance as she turned to face the man.

“You didn’t need to. Given what has happened today, we made the decision to step in. Audrey Jensen is still a minor, we had to get involved.”

“Sheriff, what are they going to do? I don’t want to go anywhere.”

Miguel walked around his desk to stand next to the girl still perched nervously in his chair. He’d looked at the girl, still broken and with tears in her eyes and he knew what he was going to do.

“You need her to have a guardian to not take her away from her friends and everyone she knows, right?”

“Yes Sheriff, and since she has no family to take her in she unfortunately doesn’t have-”

“She can stay with us.”


	5. Let The Right One In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Acosta's offer Audrey a chance to stay with the rest of the Lakewood 5 instead of being taken away.  
> The teenager then has to find some way of settling into a strange house with a killer still on the loose.  
> She couldn't lose anyone else now, it would be too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Audrey and Stavo become adoptive siblings.  
> Maybe it won't be as bad as Audrey expects...  
> Hope you enjoy it.  
> Like, comment, and let me know what you think.

Audrey looked up at the man in shock. She was sure she was about to have everything she knew ripped away from her, but Sheriff Acosta had just thrown her a lifeline.

“Sheriff?”

“I will adopt her. Become her legal guardian.” Kate nodded, smiling at the man as she did so.

“Okay… Give me 10 minutes, and I’ll go and get the papers from my car.”

The woman left the room then, pulling the door shut behind her and heading out of the building. Miguel took a knee next to Audrey as he looked up at the girl.

“Are you okay with that plan? If you come and stay with me and Stavo? I know I didn’t really ask first.” Audrey nodded quickly.

“Yeah, that would be nice… Th-thank you.”

“Of course. Now we just gotta get through all the paperwork.” The girl offered him a shaky smile as he nudged into her, rolling his eyes at the thought of spending so much time signing documents.

…

Outside, Maggie had made her way back up to the main room and walked over to the four friends still sat in plastic chairs in the hallway.

“Mom, how’s Audrey? What’s going on?” Emma had asked rapidly, desperate to finally know something.

“Miguel says she’s doing as well as would be expected… but it’s going to be hard. I can’t talk about the case though, you know I can’t… and for now, I need you all to go back to   
your own homes.” The group started to protest but Maggie held up a hand to silence them. “She needs time. When she’s settled and we know what’s happening, then you can see her. For now please go home.”

The group did as they were asked. Defeatedly parting ways, all beyond worried for their friend. They knew what it was like to lose people by now, but to lose your entire family was   
something none of the others really knew.

…

It had taken a few hours to get everything sorted, but the papers were eventually all signed and Miguel had called an early leave today so he could take Audrey home. The girl was still numb from shock as he led her into the house, Stavo appearing from the kitchen as he heard the door close.

“Hey dad I- Audrey?”

“Hey Gus, Audrey’s going to stay with us okay? I agreed to be her legal guardian so she could stay.” Stavo looked over at his dad but nodded as he smiled at his friend.

“Awesome. This mean I got a little sister to help me with all my chores now.”

Audrey laughed slightly as Stavo threw an arm over her shoulders.

“Nope, you can keep your chores… and I’m older than you Stavo.” Her ‘brother’ shrugged dramatically as he finished eating the chocolate that had previously been in his hand.

“Gus, will you go and show her the spare room. I’m going to go and Maggie to help me bring her things over. That okay?”

The two teens nodded their agreement as they watched the older man make his way out of the house, and lock the door behind him. Stavo kept his arm around Audrey’s shoulder as he rested his chin against her head.

“How’re you doing?” He asked carefully.

“How do you think? Not great…” 

Stavo pulled her into a hug briefly before he pulled away to look at the shorter girl.

“You wanna come see your room?” Audrey nodded and trailed after her friend as he walked the length of the corridor to a door at the far end of it. He held it open for her and the girl stepped through, looking around at the room as she did so. 

It was roughly the same size as the one she’d had at her house, the double bed being unmade and the rest of the room still pretty bare, the walls a bright shade of white that she wasn’t used to…

“It’s too white isn’t it?” Audrey laughed a little a Stavo practically read her mind and she nodded her agreement. “We could decorate, I hear it’s cathartic… What colour you thinking?”

Stavo swung an arm around Audrey’s shoulders again and she laughed at him a little.

“I don’t know… my old room was purple but not my choice…”

“Hmm… how about a nice blue? Like a turquoise kind of thing. I think that’s a you colour.”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

“Alright. Come on then, we gotta go get paint.”

Audrey laughed a little, more than thankful for Stavo’s ability to distract her as she followed him out to end up having to stand on the stunt pegs on the back of his bike so they could head to the hardware store nearby. (This was the downside of leaving your car at someone else’s house).

It took them awhile to find the right colour, and longer to manage to get them and the paint safely onto the bike without toppling over, but eventually they’d completed their mission and brought the paint home. The two teens struggled to get the bed out of the room between them then, laughing as they fell over each other or the bed or nothing, before they were able to lay tarpaulin over the carpet so that it’d be protected from paint splatters. Stavo also managed to find some old overalls from the last time he’d decorated with his dad and (despite it being too big on Audrey) they’d put them on and got to work painting the room.

Music blared through the little speaker in the centre of the room as they painted and Audrey stretched, unable to reach the top part of the wall until Stavo had turned around and grabbed her round the waist so she was the right height to paint the top.

“I hate you, you know that?” She muttered as she finished painting the wall and twisted to flick the blue paint left on her brush at the boy still holding her up. An action that caused him to drop her and ‘ew’ at the girl as he wiped at his face, unable to do much other than smudge the paint onto his face further. Audrey laughed at him and Stavo just looked up and moved to pick up his own brush again, chasing her around the room to flick more paint at her. The walls had luckily already finished being painted, but there was enough left over paint for them to have a few goes at trying to paint each other nevertheless.

The two teens were so engrossed in their game that they hadn’t heard the front door open a few minutes later.

…

Miguel had managed to rope in Maggie and Emma to help him with moving Audrey’s things to the house (both women having seemed pretty shocked that he’d volunteered to take Audrey in the way he had, but he had known it was the right thing to do, and so he’d done it).

Between the three of their cars, they’d managed to get all of Audrey’s things packed and brought over after a few hours at it, and they were all a little worried about how they’d find the girl when they’d returned. Miguel could only hope Stavo had found a way to make sure she was okay. What they hadn’t expected, however, was to be greeted by the sounds of laughter when they had finished moving all the boxes into the front room.

“What are they doing?” Maggie had asked in amusement as she stared down the corridor at the closed door that the sound was coming from.

“I don’t know… Guys! Are you okay?!” Miguel called down the corridor, the response coming in the form of Stavo running down the corridor with Audrey trailing after him… both of them covered from head to toe in blue paint. “What the hell happened to you two?”

“We were decorating.” Stavo explained, still laughing a little as Audrey hit him around the head (the girl clearly worse off in terms of how much paint she was covered in).

“It was his idea… Apparently it’s cathartic. The paint fight afterwards was less so…” Audrey had stated in terms of an explanation.

“I’m guessing you went with blue?” The older man asked with a chuckle, the two teenagers nodding in response. “We brought all your stuff over, though I imagine we’re going to have to wait for the paint to dry first right?”

“Probably.” “Yeah.” Came the joint responses from the pair.

“Alright, well whilst we wait for that to happen, do you guys want to get food? I’ll order in some pizzas, you’re welcome to stay too.” The final comment was aimed towards the   
Duval’s that were stood in the foyer but Maggie shook her head.

“No, Miguel, that’s alright. We’ll leave you to it, let you all get settled.” The older man nodded in agreement and Emma had walked over to Audrey (stopping short of hugging her because of the wet paint that very much covered her girlfriend).

“I’ll see you tomorrow yeah?” Audrey nodded to Emma’s question, the taller girl smiling as she pressed a kiss to her girlfriend’s cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too… and thank you, for earlier.”

“Of course.”

The two blondes eventually made their way home and the Acosta’s and their new plus one settled in for the night. Having copious amounts of pizza and ice cream and a very intense game of pictionary that Stavo was far too good at for Audrey’s liking. Then they played scrabble for a few rounds and Miguel beat them both, and Audrey swore it was like playing against a living dictionary. Audrey kicked their butts at trivial pursuit a little later though and was much happier for the evening because of it.

They’d also managed to get all of Audrey’s things into her new room as well. Then night had fallen and the Audrey had taken a turn for the worse… With the night came the shadows, and the time to her thoughts that brought with it many dark memories. The girl had been in tears in her room when Miguel had come to check on her and he’d ran to sit by her side.

“Sweetheart, are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“What if he comes for you and Stavo in the night too? Now I have more family, he’ll try to take it away again… What if I wake up and you aren’t here either? I-”

Audrey’s voice cut off into a quiet sob and Miguel pulled her into him as she cried some more, the girl eventually stopping and the older man left briefly to get her a drink and bring the air mattress back in with him so she wouldn’t be alone in a strange place on her first night. By the time he returned from the garage, Stavo had lay next to her in the large double bed, the boy drawing something whilst Audrey watched whatever shitty animated movie at was playing on the tv screen across the room from them. 

Miguel set up the air bed next to the two teenagers and made it up to sleep on, Audrey finding comfort in knowing where the other two were… If she could see them then she knew they were safe… So she didn’t sleep that night, just stayed up to keep the two men safe…


	6. Recovering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Audrey takes some time off school to recover and Stavo stays to make sure she's okay.  
> Meanwhile, Emma has her first contact with this new killer.  
> Will she find out what he really has planned?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stavo looks after Audrey whilst she's recovering.  
> Emma gets a phone call from the killer, and the Lakewood 5 have a games night.  
> Hope you enjoy it.  
> Like, comment, and let me know what you think.

“Did you sleep at all?” Stavo had asked as he blinked sleep out of his eyes the next morning. Audrey didn’t meet his gaze as she shook her head. “You need to rest Auds.”

“If I can see you I know you’re safe…” She muttered. Stavo offered her a smile before making to roll out of the bed as the smell of breakfast reached them.

“Well, can you keep an eye on me out there so I can have breakfast?” 

Audrey rolled her eyes but followed Stavo out of the room to go and try to force some food down her, despite the sick feeling in her stomach that hadn’t shifted since the nightmares had plagued her enough to keep her awake had begun during the night. 

“Stay home from school today Audrey, take some time for yourself. I’m going to go and pick up your school work for you and I’ll drop it off before I go to work okay?” Audrey nodded her agreement to Miguel’s words, not particularly feeling up to a day at school right now anyway. “Stavo, you can come straight home from school, you don’t have to wait for me to-”

“Actually, can I stay off with Audrey today? I don’t want to leave her alone after everything…”

Miguel nodded his agreement and left the two teenagers to finish eating whilst he got ready and left to collect their things for them.

…

The other 3 of the Lakewood 5 were stood by the lockers, waiting for Stavo to show up so they could ask him how Audrey was - Noah and Brooke having been told about the Acosta’s taking her in by Emma earlier that morning. They were chatting about anything and nothing when Noah had nudged both of the girls to force their attention to what he was looking at - Sheriff Acosta… walking away from the school office.

“Sheriff? What are you doing here?” The older man walked towards the group when Brooke had called out to him.

“Picking up their school work…”

“Their? Stavo’s not coming in either?” Emma’s question was laced with curiosity and shock, the girl having not expected their other friend to reject coming into school too.

“He didn’t want to leave her alone… She had a rough night. I have to go, feel free to head over and see them after school though alright?”

The group nodded, Emma finding herself slightly relieved that Audrey wasn’t home alone when there was this new killer at large. This new killer that had so far been targeting Audrey.

They were halfway through the day, stood by the lockers talking, when Emma’s phone had rang in her pocket. She’d pulled it out in the hopes that her girlfriend’s name would flash up on the screen… that wasn’t the case…

Incoming Call: ‘UNKNOWN’

Emma looked over at the others who had clocked the caller ID as well, and then she answered the phone.

“Hello.”

“Hello Emma. Did you miss me?” The voice was distorted in a way far too familiar to Emma by now and she clenched her jaw as she spat out a response.

“What do you want?”

“I told you Emma… This story doesn’t have a happy ending. Your friend prevented this from ending with you before. She won’t be able to stop it this time. This will all end with you.”

Then the line went dead. What was that supposed to mean? She won’t be able to stop it… Audrey saved her before… He was going to kill her. 

…

Audrey threw her pen across the room in frustration as she failed to focus on the algebra work Miguel had brought home for the two of them.

“Yeah, you’re right. We should take a break. Netflix?” Stavo had stated simply in response to the action.

“Sure…”

The two sat on the floor, backs against the couch, eating some popcorn as the TV played through old episodes of The Office. They had brought some of their other school work   
over with them, the sheets scattered half done across the coffee table so the teenagers could do bits of them whilst watching and then ditch them again to focus more on the screen in front of them. 

It shocked Audrey, to some extent, how good Stavo was at keeping her distracted and making her crack a smile even when she didn’t want to. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so terrible to have him as an adopted brother after all. Plus both Stavo and Miguel could cook better than her own father ever could, and far better than Maggie (the woman was lovely and all but she could admittedly only make one dish). The two had stayed like that for the majority of the day, only taking a break to get a proper meal at midday - otherwise they tried to do some work, or they watched TV, or Stavo drew whilst Audrey watched, or they played some silly board games to pass the time.

Audrey was laughing at the cartoon drawing Stavo was showing her that he’d done of Noah when a knock at the door interrupted them. It was around 4:30 in the afternoon and they hadn’t been expecting visitors, so Stavo had stood cautiously to approach the door before sighing in relief as he looked through the peephole before unlocking the door and pulling it open.

“Hey guys, couldn’t have given us a heads up first? The house is a mess.” The others laughed and Brooke tried to playfully push Stavo out of the way but he overdramatically blocked her path and yelled over his shoulder. “Quick Audrey! Hide the snacks!”

Audrey stared up at him as the others managed to shove him out of the way and she looked at them innocently as she pulled the bowl of popcorn off the table and onto her lap to protect it from their friends that would finish the bowl off in seconds.

“What snacks? I assure you, I don’t know what you’re talking about…” She stated as she shoved a handful of popcorn into her mouth.

“Liar.” Noah gasped as he jumped over the back of the couch to sit on it and grab a handful of popcorn out of the bowl, ignoring Audrey’s whine of complaint at the action.

“Stavo drew you as one of those big head cartoons, I think it’s pretty accurate. Here, look.” She said, laughter evident in her tone as she handed Noah the tablet they’d been looking at. The boy burst into laughter, showing the image to the others who found it equally funny as they walked through the room.

Emma had side stepped past Stavo as Brooke wrapped herself around him, heading for the girl tucked up on the floor. The blonde tugged Audrey to her feet so she could wrap her in a hug, pulling back so she could place a gentle kiss against her girlfriend’s lips - both laughing when Noah told them to ‘get a room’. Audrey took it literally though, sticking her tongue out at her friend as she led Emma down the hallway to her new room.

“Hey, you got it all set up.” The blonde stated, scanning the room that had become the definition of Audrey in the one day she’d been here, then she took note of the air bed   
alongside the unmade double bed in the room. “What’s that for?”

Audrey stared at the floor intently, her response whispered to the ground so quietly that Emma almost didn’t catch it…

“If I could see them I knew they were safe…”

“They stayed with you?” Audrey nodded. “That’s good, I was worried you’d be alone. Did you get any sleep?”

“Not really. Had nightmares whenever I tried.” 

The two sat on the edge of Audrey’s bed and Emma held onto the shorter girl as her head fell to rest on Emma’s shoulder.

“You need some rest Auds.”

“I’ll rest when we’re not being threatened again…” Emma pressed a kiss to Audrey’s forehead, she understood the feeling of course, but right now she was just worried.

“He called me today.” Emma said cautiously. Audrey’s head snapped up to look at her, concern etched on her face.

“What did he say? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, it was nothing. Just the same as before… threats and ‘it ends with me’...”

Audrey didn’t look satisfied with the response, probably because she knew that whatever threats the killer had made were unlikely to remain as threats.

“Why is it always us Em? Isn’t it someone else’s turn yet?”

“I don’t know… If life was fair it wouldn’t have to happen to anyone. We’ll figure this out though okay? We always do.”

“I know.” Audrey muttered, staring down at her hands as she twisted her own fingers together. “We have to stop this one Em. He’s a fucking monster.”

“We will.”

Emma’s words were a clear promise. They’d avenge the death of her father. They’d survive this. Together. Audrey let her head fall back onto her girlfriend’s shoulder and Emma just held her as they sat together, letting a silence fall between them as she offered Audrey what comfort she could, the two not moving until Stavo had called loudly that they were starting a Mario Kart competition and they needed them to come and join in to make the four (Brooke refused to play after she got mad and threw the remote across the room last time they played).

That was how Sheriff Acosta had found them later that night, playing Mario Kart and shoving each other over to try and stop the others from steering successfully.

They’d all stayed for food before heading home and Audrey had spent that night the same as the one before, tucked up next to Stavo as she watched over the two men to make sure she didn’t lose them too… Stavo stayed awake with her this time though, and eventually Audrey let exhaustion lull her to sleep for a while when her eyelids refused to stay open.


	7. Try Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The killer makes contact with Audrey again, and he launches another attack.  
> Will he manage to record his next kill? Or will he be thwarted again?  
> No matter what happens...  
> You know this killer is still just getting started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The killer vs. Stavo and Audrey Pt.2  
> Will it end any differently?  
> Hope you enjoy it.  
> Like, comment, and let me know what you think.

The two teenagers stayed away from school for another two days, Stavo staying home to make sure Audrey was okay and both of them watching shitty movies in between doing their school work that Miguel collected for them every morning. They were sat at the dining table trying to sort through some work for English Lit. when Audrey’s phone rang.

Stavo took the device off her to put it on speaker phone in the middle of the table.

“What do you want?” Audrey asked harshly.

“Hey Killer. Do I have your attention now?” The smirk was almost evident in the raspy voice echoing through the phone.

“Why did you do it?”

“You always get in the way… you stopped my children from ending this with Duval. You also got in the way of my big reveal the other week. But my end game remains the same… Emma Duval.” The man paused for a moment, and the two teenagers shared a glance (Stavo looking nervous, and Audrey just downright pissed). “I figured it out you see, I hurt you and she hurts too… I’ll make her watch as I kill you, and then I’ll kill her.”

“Bring it on you son of a bitch… we’ve taken down everyone before you, and we’ll get you too.”

The man laughed down the phone and hung up. Just as he did so, Miguel walked through the door to see the worried expressions on the teenager’s faces.

“What happened?” He asked carefully.

“He called again.” Stavo muttered almost inaudibly. Miguel said nothing as he waited for one of them to explain further.

“He’s coming for me… and Emma.” Was the only expansion on the statement he got as Audrey spoke, not looking up from her phone as she did so. The Sheriff strode across the room, dropping his bag as he made to kneel next to Audrey, taking her hand to turn her to face him.

“I won’t let him, you hear me? I’ve got you alright?” Audrey nodded, muttering a ‘thank you’ as she buried her head into Miguel’s shoulder, allowing the older man to offer her some comfort.

“You cooking tonight dad?” Stavo asked when the cop made to stand again.

“Of course, it’s pasta night tonight. I’m gonna get changed and then start cooking. Will you pair go find us something good to watch whilst I get on with cooking?”

“Yeah, come on Audrey. Let’s rock and roll.” Stavo rolled out of his chair, skipping around the table to grab Audrey’s hand and drag her to the couch (the girl groaning in complaint as she was forced out of her chair).

The two had flicked through Netflix until they’d found a film that sounded half decent, putting it on whilst the trio ate and laughed together (normally at Stavo spilling food down himself). They put plates away and Audrey half lay across the couch, feet up on the coffee table as she watched Stavo drawing on his tablet whilst Miguel focussed on the end of the movie on the other side of the couch. 

The two teenagers had ended up falling asleep on the couch that night, and Miguel had left them there. He didn’t want to disturb Audrey now she was finally getting some sleep, she needed it, especially if this new killer was going to start coming after the Lakewood 5 again… 

Miguel had gone to shower whilst the two slept. That was interrupted when he heard the creak of floorboards from the hallway though. He switched the water off, listening…

“Stavo? Audrey?”

No response.

Another floorboard creaked and Miguel stepped out of the shower, drying himself enough to put some underwear on and grab his gun as he carefully pulled open the door. 

He turned down the corridor, stepping slowly as he tried to avoid the creaking floorboards. He peered through the door to his own room first, it was empty… Stavo’s room had been very much the same. He stepped towards Audrey’s room and then heard another creak - this time behind him. He paused, spinning to stare down the empty hallway.

He glanced back at Audrey’s door but if there was someone here, it sounded like they’d made their way further into the house. So he started back towards the front room, sticking to the far wall so he could see more of the room ahead of him.

From what he could tell the two teenagers appeared to still be asleep on the couch, the TV had turned itself off and that was as far as he could see until he got into the room. 

He paused momentarily to check the bullets in his gun and then loaded it quickly as he continued pacing down the hall… Miguel could feel his heart racing as he walked, knowing the threat against the two teens in the other room was very real made sure that anything out of the ordinary triggered an emergency response within the cop.

He jerked the gun towards the door in fear when a knock sounded against it. He paused as he aimed it at the thick wood though, staring at it intently as he noticed the two teenagers stir out of the corner of his eye.

“AUDREY MOVE!” 

Stavo’s shout brought movement to the Sheriff’s legs as he ran around the corner, the door bursting open at the same time as Miguel briefly noticed Emma shoulder the door open, before he turned his attention and gun around the corner… Finally understanding why Stavo had shouted.

The cop shot four times when the mask had looked up at him, or Emma, he couldn’t really tell and didn’t really care. 

The man ducked and swerved until he found his way to a window and threw himself through it. Miguel had ran towards the broken glass, but the figure was gone… There was no trace of him in sight in the garden outside and whilst the glass had been broken, there were no traces of blood on it - his coat seemingly having protected him from the shards. 

The Sheriff remained at the window, gun aimed outside in case he caught a glimpse of the man.

“Audrey, Stavo, are you okay?”

“Yeah we’re good… he missed his swing. Nice timing Em.” Stavo managed in response as he collapsed against the couch again. Audrey was half sprawled across the floor, where she’d thrown herself to avoid the swing of the killer’s knife.

“Yeah, well, he told me he was here… I’d just had to hope I wasn’t too late, I’ll apologise for the speeding tickets in the morning.”

Audrey managed to laugh slightly at Emma’s last comment, the other girl helping her up off the floor and wrapping her in a hug.

“Are you okay?” Emma asked carefully as she checked Audrey over for any sign of injury, before looking over to Stavo. “Both of you.”

“I think we’re okay… Just checking off our daily near-death experience. You know, the usual.”

Audrey’s response was shaky and Emma just pulled her into another hug in response, Stavo standing to join in because apparently he’s ‘the world’s best third-wheel’.

“Hey, at least it was only near-death this time.” Stavo said, nudging Audrey gently. The girl rolled her eyes but laughed at little at the statement. It came to something when you were grateful for a near-death experience because it wasn’t an actual death…

Emma stayed with them that night. The police showing up to help them secure the house not long afterwards so they could be sure they were safe for the rest of the night. None of them slept after that though. Emma had curled up with Audrey in her room, and Stavo had stayed with his dad so no-one was alone. 

“I thought I was going to lose you tonight…” Emma muttered as she tucked herself under Audrey’s chin.

“You’re not gonna lose me Em. Ever. Not if I have any say in the matter.”

Emma wasn’t sure if Audrey’s words comforted her or not. She felt comforted in her arms for now though, knowing that tonight she’d got there in time, tonight Audrey was safe…   
She’d always worry every day that followed, but for now she was safe, and for now that was enough…

“I love you, you know that?” She whispered into the crook of her girlfriend’s neck.

“I know Em… I love you too.”


	8. I Is Also We

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Audrey and Stavo go back to school after the latest attempt on their life.  
> The group get a phone call from a killer.  
> And he gives Emma some information that she wishes she didn't know about.  
> Someone is lying...  
> But who could it be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A phone call from the killer provides Emma with more questions than answers.  
> But what will his reveal mean for the Lakewood 5.  
> (Apologies for being so long updating - I had exams, and then writer's block, but there will be more to follow soon.)  
> Hope you enjoy it.  
> Like, comment, and let me know what you think.

Audrey and Stavo had gone back to school the next day, Emma hadn’t been sure about it originally - but Audrey had made the fairly good point that she was less likely to be killed in public than she was home alone with Stavo. Which meant the three had made their way to school that morning, Emma driving them all, and their other friends were waiting to greet them at the entrance. 

They’d had to spend a good 15 minutes explaining everything that had happened the night before, from the phone call to Audrey and the one to Emma, to the attempt on Audrey and Stavo’s lives again.

The group finally fell into a shock induced silence once they’d finished explaining, no one really knew what to say. There wasn’t really anything they could say.

“So, what, you guys think his end game is killing Audrey?” Noah had managed to stutter out as he looked confusedly at his best friend, who simply nodded.

“Yeah, basically. He thinks hurting her will hurt me the most, and he’s not wrong…” Emma muttered softly, almost choking on the last words as tears brimmed in her eyes at the thought of losing someone else she loved.

“The end game is still you though Em. He’s trying to hurt you first but he said it ends with you right? But, who still wants to do this to all of us? There can’t be a third accomplice, that’s just not fair.”

Audrey was right, of course it wasn’t fair, but the game never was… But it also wasn’t logical for there to be a third accomplice. Noah had considered it before, it would’ve been too complicated, people would lose track of their part in the play and stories would become muddled up amongst the web of lies. So, what then? This was an entirely new player? 

“What are we going to do?” Brooke’s words were surprisingly strong, and the others managed to find some strength in them too… though they weren’t sure how to answer her question.

“What can we do? It’s his game…” 

Emma’s reminder of such brought silence back over the group as they tried desperately to avoid the stares of the rest of the school and each other.

The silence was broken when a phone rang clearly out from somewhere in the group…

“That’s mine.” Emma spoke fearfully as she pulled the phone from her back pocket. The ‘UNKNOWN’ emblazoned across the screen echoing fear into the hearts of the whole group. The 5 hurried into an empty classroom just off the hallway, Stavo shutting the door behind them as Emma answered the phone, putting it onto speaker so everyone could hear.

“Hello?”

“Hello Emma” The altered voice hissed out.

“What do you want?”

“It’s terrible isn’t it… love. The ultimate weakness of all people. To lose it brings the most pain… But you know all about that, don’t you Emma? You all do.” The group passed glances between themselves at that. “Yes I see you all… the popular girl who refuses to die, her mysterious new boyfriend, his new sister the killer, her best friend the know-it-all, and the girl at the centre of it all. You can attempt to rebuild your perfect lives, but I will keep tearing them down, just like you and your family have torn down other’s lives… Everyone has a breaking point Emma, we’ve reached ours.”

That brought the entire group to attention… he’d said ‘we’... There was more than one of them. 

“Look at them, Emma. All of the people you love. Look at them… because it may well be the last time you see them alive.”

The line went dead after that… but she saw a text pop up on her screen, no one else noticing the sound as they talked between themselves.

UNKNOWN: Someone is lying to you Emma.

UNKNOWN: Have you been paying attention?

Emma looked up at her group of friends then… Not again. One of them couldn’t be betraying her again. One of them couldn’t be working with this other killer, surely? Except she wasn’t sure anymore, she could never be sure, not after everything that had happened before. So she payed attention to everyone in front of her, observing silently from the background, trying desperately to figure out who it could be… What any of them would hold against her…

It couldn’t be Audrey because the new killers were targeting her.

It couldn’t be Stavo because he’d been almost murdered with Audrey, and had since been looking after her, not killing her…

Problem being she didn’t think either of the others were capable of murder.

Sure Brooke could still be holding what happened to herself, Jake and her dad against Emma and Audrey… but they’d talked everything out and everyone was okay now, Emma was sure of it.

And maybe Noah still held what happened to Riley and Zoe against them, but there was no way he could hurt Audrey like this killer had.

She had no idea who it could be…

Maybe he was just trying to get in her head and no one was actually lying to her now, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that this killer did have help… or that his help was from one of her friends again.

It was always someone she trusted. It had become part of the game.

Everyone had a reason to turn against her, but she didn’t know who would (or could) be doing so this time around…

She supposed she’d have to wait for this killer’s big reveal to get her answer to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So guys... Can you figure it out before the reveal?  
> Who's lying this time?   
> Is anyone lying at all?


	9. Nothing Good

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even a snow day won't stop the killers lurking in Lakewood.  
> As Emma and Audrey want to try and enjoy the day, they get a phone call that will bring it to an end.  
> The Lakewood 5 become the Lakewood 2 when everyone they love goes missing.  
> Tick tock girls... They're running out of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A snow day ruined by 5 disappearances, best find out what happened quickly.  
> Hope you enjoy it.  
> Like, comment, and let me know what you think.

December 10th 

Emma and Audrey woke up to a heavy snowstorm today, it was unexpected really. It never snowed in Louisiana, but overnight almost 6 inches had fallen upon Lakewood. It had only been yesterday that Emma and the others received the killer’s phone call, and Emma had spent the evening going over everything (including the text that followed the call) with Audrey until they’d both fallen asleep on the bed with note papers scattered around them.

Audrey had woken up first, and begun collecting up the papers as she stretched, making her way around the room with a yawn. She’d gone over to peer out the window and caught a glimpse of the white blanket covering the streets outside, snowflakes still falling from the sky too.

She’d grinned as she bounced back towards the bed, kneeling to kiss her girlfriend awake. Green eyes fluttering open to meet Audrey’s gaze as she pulled back.

“Morning…” Emma muttered sleepily.

“Morning. Come here, you gotta see this.” Emma laughed slightly at Audrey’s excitement, as she allowed herself to be pulled from the comfort and warmth of her blankets. Audrey led her to the window and they both looked out over the snowy ground outside.

“Oh my God! It’s snowing! It hasn’t snowed for like 10 years!” Audrey laughed as her girlfriend all but pressed herself against the window to look down at the snow, a smile forming briefly as she forgot about everything that was going wrong around them. 

“Not since we were kids… but hey, you know what snow means right?” Audrey said, shoulders wiggling slightly as she smirked mischievously at Emma.

“Snowball fight.” The blonde replied with a laugh. “I’ll call Brooke, get her to rally the troops.”

Both girls grinned as Emma found her phone and hit the call button next to their friend’s name. The phone line rang four times before it crackled to signify that it had been answered.

“Brooke! Get the guys! It’s snowing, come on, we gotta go out!”

“Sorry, Brooke can’t come to the phone right now.” 

Emma’s face fell as the familiar altered voice of the killer echoed through the speaker. She pulled the phone away from her ear to put it on loud speaker as she responded. 

“What do you want?” She spat. 

“Hello Emma. You didn’t think a little snow would stop me did you?”

Audrey tensed up, eyes blowing wide as the voice rang out through the phone.

“You better hurry Duval… They don’t have long left.”

The killer hung up then, and a message came through with a link attached to it. Emma clicked on it, Audrey standing next to her, as the screen opened onto a split of 4 video images… Brooke, Stavo, Noah, and Maggie with Miguel. There were no clear backgrounds to the videos, nothing to give away their locations.

UNKNOWN: They’ve all done something wrong. Best find out what it is, final girl.

“What have any of them done though?! This is ridiculous…” Emma huffed in annoyance. Audrey was just staring blankly at the screen as they re-opened the link. That was her dad, her brother, her two best friends, and her girlfriend’s mom. She couldn’t stand to lose that much. 

“They survived.” Audrey muttered in response. “The killers have tried to kill them all before.”

“The game’s never that easy though. He’s determined to show me that everyone is lying to me, just like the others… Do you know of anything they could be hiding?”

Emma asked desperately, Audrey only managing to shake her head in response. But then she froze for a moment, holding a finger up to pause her girlfriend’s attempt to start speaking again as she scooped up the notes she’d put on Emma’s desk earlier and moved to the bed to shuffle through them.

“What is it?”

“I wrote something down last night that might help, but I’m tired and I can’t remember what it was without looking.” Audrey replied as she gestured at the papers around her. Emma watched as she dug through them until she found the one she was looking for. “Here.”

Emma took the pre-offered note and read it aloud to herself.

“Brandon James not dead.” The blonde looked up to meet the blue of her girlfriend’s eyes. “W-what? How?”

“I remember now. It was a few days before the attack at the house, Miguel took a phone call from your mom at like midnight. He thought me and Stavo were asleep, but we were still awake so we’d got up to listen through the door.” 

… 6 days earlier…

“Maggie, what is it?” The two teenagers heard the Sheriff ask from where they stood.

“Maggie calm down. Hey. We went through this the last time… it wasn’t him.”

Stavo passed a confused look over at Audrey, who merely shrugged in response. The shake of her head signifying that she had no idea what was going on either.

“What makes you think it could be him? Last time all we found was a spare room at his brother’s old house, that doesn’t mean he’s alive. He died in that forest. We couldn’t save him, remember? That happened Maggie, Troy told us it did.”

Audrey froze at the older man’s words. Stavo passed her a questioning look at the reaction, and she turned to mouth simply…

‘Troy James? Brandon’s brother.’

‘What?!’ He mouthed back before the two tuned back in to the conversation in the hall.

“I’ll contact Troy in the morning okay? Find out if he really could be back. Until then, you need to rest Maggie.” The two teenagers darted back to bed then as they heard the other man hang up the phone call. Miguel re-entering the room to fall back onto his bed, not noticing that the other two were still awake and very much shaken up.

…

“You didn’t tell me about that before?” Emma said, almost as a question more than a statement.

“He never mentioned it after that, so I assumed it panned out to nothing but… it could be something. I’m not sure.” Audrey paused as she moved to grab the phone showing everyone on the screen again and pointed out Miguel and Maggie, who appeared to be walking around somewhere. “If they’re investigating that though, then that could be what they did wrong.”

“If they’re investigating Brandon James… I think I know where they are.”

The two pulled on warmer clothes as Emma all but dragged Audrey after her out of the house and towards her car.

“Em, wait!” The blonde paused to watch her girlfriend run to her own car to collect the taser and crowbar they used as makeshift weapons when they had to, before she returned to Emma’s side. “Okay, let’s do this.”

Audrey didn’t realise where they were going until they had pulled up alongside the Sheriff’s cruiser at the James’s old pig farm. It was as good a start as any. The blackness of the video would make sense with the dingy old house or barn further away from them. 

The two shivered as they stepped out of the car and onto the snow, attributing the shiver to the cold instead of the fear growing in both of them. They couldn’t guarantee what they’d find in here - nothing, their parents, or their bodies… They’d seen loops used before, they couldn’t say for sure that they were alive just because they saw them alive on the video. They’d been wrong about that before. But there was only one way to find out what was waiting for them.

“Let’s get this over with.” 

Emma’s voice was shaky, and Audrey made to hold her hand to offer what little comfort she could, giving it a squeeze before letting go to keep ahold of her weapon and so Emma could keep one hand free to hold the torch. The blonde led the way through the dark hallway, the light of the torch doing enough to cast away the remaining darkness caused by the dark clouds overhead.

“Em, look.” Audrey’s whisper pulled the other girl’s attention to what she was looking at. A small camera, flashing in the corner of the doorway to the kitchen. The shorter girl looked back at the screen that still showed Maggie and Miguel walking through the corridor they were now stood in.

It was a loop.

All they could hope was that it was only looped because he had one camera here, not because they were already dead.

Audrey walked slowly towards the doorway, taking lead as she moved past her girlfriend. Her steps were confident until she hit an old floorboard that creaked loudly under foot, Emma almost jumping a mile at the sound until she realised it was only Audrey causing it - the shorter girl mouthing an apology over her shoulder at the sight of Emma’s reaction.

Footsteps then sounded rapidly from above them somewhere until they came to a halt on the stairs next to the girls, light shining into the teenagers eyes from the torch on the stairs. The girls both held an arm up to shield their eyes until a confused voice finally echoed down to them in a harsh whisper.

“Audrey, Emma? What are you doing here?” 

The torch lowered and Audrey caught sight of Maggie running over to Emma as Miguel made his way down the stairs too. When they were all stood together, the girls showed them the video link they’d received from the killer.

“How did you know we were here though?” Miguel asked carefully.

“Me and Stavo heard you talking about Brandon James before, Emma guessed you’d have come here.” Audrey spoke carefully, watching the two adults pass a glance between themselves. “If you have something to tell us, please do, this is our lives too.”

“He’s not alive Audrey.” Maggie said simply. “We talked to Troy, he told us where he’d buried Brandon. We dug up the body and DNA tests confirm it’s him. He’s gone.”

The teenagers seemed unsatisfied with the response.

“Which means we’re back to square one.” Emma’s voice held an air of resignation as she spoke. They’d learnt nothing. They were no closer to knowing who either of the killers were, or what their motive was… and three of their friends were still missing.

“Come on, we should get back to the station. We have to try and locate the others.”

“No!” Audrey cut in at the Sheriff’s suggestion. “We can’t go to the station. You know the rules, no cops or they die. We haven’t got time for this, we just need to go and find them.”

Emma nodded her agreement and the Sheriff looked exasperated. Eyes searching pleadingly for help from Maggie here.

“Well, where do you suggest we start?” She asked as she turned back towards her daughter and Audrey.

“Noah still has the murder board up… There could be something to find on there?” Audrey offered.

“Okay, let’s go find out.” Maggie replied easily, leading the group out of the James’ old house and back to their cars.

They’d found two still alive, but there were still three more missing. He’d said they didn’t have long before they started their search, so they were really going to be pushing it if they weren’t careful. Audrey just hoped they could find something out from Noah’s board - they had nothing else to go on right now, and they couldn’t lose anybody else.


End file.
